I bought four guineas just for kicks. I am wondering about their egg laying habits. Will they return the coop and lay daily? Do their eggs look like chicken eggs? Would you eat them?

Thanks
Joshua

I want to know the same thing. I got a call from the gal down the road she is getting a dozen guinea eggs a day and if I want them free I can have them. soooo do they taste like chicken eggs and look like chicken eggs??

Guineas will roost in one spot repeatedly... So keep them penned up for a few months (at least 3). They should return to sleep... HOWEVER, a hen will lay eggs in the sneakiest location she can find, and if she finds somewhere outside the pen, she will lay else where.

That being said, when they go broody, they will stay where the nest is.... And that is where you don't know the location... So... Bad news. That is sometimes the case with all birds though. Lol.

They are better than chicken eggs in my opinon. Especially in baking. They are a little smaller than chicken eggs with a pointy end. They come in every shade of tan to almost white and some have spots. They have a laying season which is early Spring through late Fall. My hens have stopped laying for the year. A hen will lay one egg a day pretty much during that season. As for egg laying, they don't care, they just lay them any old place. Most like a little hole in the ground. They are famous for hidding their nests. Some times they will use the same nest. Once there are a 20 or so eggs in the nest, one hen will go broody then she will not leave the nest which is dangerous because that's when preditors will get her. What I do is I leave my guineas in their coop/run during the day until around 3:00 in the afternoon to let them out to free range so they will lay their eggs in their coop/run and I can collect them. They will ignore the pretty nesting boxes you have built for them and use a corner instead or the middle of the floor. They are funny birds. Plus with the limited free range time it keeps them out of trouble .... detaining the UPS guy, the postman, following joggers, crossing the road to the corn field, visiting neighbors, etc.....

You have to train guineas were home is. You hear of people saying they brought the guineas home and let them out for the first time and they left never to return. They left to find home which wasn't your house. To teach them were home is you have to keep them in their run/coop for 5 to 6 weeks straight without letting them out. Keep them on a schedule, by feeding them the same times each day. A light in the coop at nights help to. Did you get adult guineas or are they youngesters? It's easier with keets. They can fly so they need to be in a coop/run with a roof. They will also roost in trees at night which is how you loose them to owls. I trained mine to come back to the coop for the night by ringing a cow bell. Some people use the same phrase like "Come and get it" or "Treats". I went with the cow bell because I am on 900 acres and they can hear the bell better than my voice. Now they don't range on the entire 900 acres but they do get around and I wanted to be able to get them in for any reason. Guineas are not like chickens. They need higher protein feed when young. They don't like to be held or petted. They have their own thing going on and their own schedule to follow. They are great alarm systems. I have not seen a tick in years. They are fun and entertaining but they are work to keep them safe.

Eggs from birds (Hens) that free range as much as possible and consume minimal commercial feed are the best tasting eggs IMO (as opposed to pen raised Guineas fed mostly just commercial layer feed 24/7). Free Range Guinea eggs have much richer/darker yolks from all the natural goodies they find while free ranging (bugs seeds, small reptiles etc, and even small rodents) plus all the greens they get to munch on free choice. It all reflects in their egg(yolk) quality/color. 2 Guinea eggs are the equivalent of 1 large chicken egg when using them for cooking.

livenwpeeps post provides excellent info on Guineas and their laying nesting habits... Gineas aren't at all like chickens (in so many ways, can't even begin to count them), so you may want to plan on doing daily egg hunts during their laying season or you could end up losing your Hens if they go broody out on hidden nests in the bushes ir somewhere else unsafe.

I would pick Guinea eggs for my omelet over chicken eggs any day, but most of the people I give eggs to only want the chicken eggs. When I offer Guinea eggs they act like I'm trying to give them snake eggs!

D'Angelo N Va. :

I love guinea eggs sooo much better any egg. They r delicious. If they would stay at home I would raise them just for the eggs.

i agree. my quail and guineas eggs hold much more value to me than chickens.. my customers all want chicken eggs from me...all of my birds have a very dark sunburst orange color to their yolks and i agree that is from being a "freeranged" wild like bird.